


Through A father’s Turmoil Comes Love

by SilentScreamer



Category: NCIS
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Family, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 10:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentScreamer/pseuds/SilentScreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A day goes a bit pear shaped for Gibbs & Tim. The screaming and thud that catches Tim’s ears scares him more than he is willing to admit.  However, if Tim sees this through he will understand that love if forever waiting for him on the other side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through A father’s Turmoil Comes Love

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a Christmas Exchange!

Tim hazily wakes up to the feel of calloused hands slowly and methodically pumping his morning wood into hardness.

He loves this. He loves that he has the honor of calling this his life, and that instead of waking up on the left side of his enormous king sized bed, in a perpetually cold apartment despite what the heat was cranked up to, he woke up to morning blowjobs, hot showers with peppered touches that lingered on his skin throughout the day until night time when those deft hands could work more trails down his body.

But what Tim loved the most, probably more than the touches and sex, was waking up this way; he enjoyed being on the edge of consciousness-- lingering in a state between alertness and fuzziness. If you asked him the computer wizard would be able to pinpoint the exact moment where he crossed that threshold and entered the land of the living, and it was always at the point where his lover would use one hand to caress his balls while using the other to gently spread his precome across the tip of his cock.

Once the come was spread out pretty evenly the man would take Tim’s whole dick in his mouth, and it always surprised the younger agent how each time his cock made it further down the throat of his experienced lover. The older man loved to swallow his cock whole, and after the first suck Tim entered supreme consciousness with a low throaty moan of “Jethro.”

Despite the large appendage in his mouth Tim could feel the faint smirk play across his lover’s mouth as Tim reached his land out to lazily to stroke Jethro’s hair, and the monotonous petting turned into an all out tightening as soon as Tim felt Jethro bite down on his cock before coming up for air.

“Not that I don’t enjoy having my morning wood’s needs taken care of this early in the morning, or not that I don’t like to bask in being ravished by your experienced mouth, I cannot help but wonder what I owe this early pleasure to?” Tim asked before stalking over to the end of the bed where Gibbs was playing with the hem of their Siberian goose down duvet and capturing his lips in a hazy kiss that he hoped conveyed “thank you, I love you, and more importantly can we do that again?”

Gibbs allowed the tips of his lips to curl up into what counts as a smile for the reserved, emotionally constipated silver haired fox before answering, “A man needs a reason now to show his appreciation for his partner? I may be a failure at this relationship thing but I do know that to keep people around, every once and awhile you need to stroke their needs,” Gibbs then laughed seeing the immediate effects of his words on his lover’s cock.

Once flaccid it was hardening once more and the older man would never understand how Tim’s cock could change from 0 to 60 so quickly; however, he reasoned a lot must have been accredited to his youthful vitality which Gibbs sometimes wished he still possessed.

Despite always working out, never failing a physical, and getting a clean bill of health each year from Ducky, Gibbs knew that he was no spring chicken and sometimes he felt as though he was robbing Tim of something. Robbing him of being with someone his own age, someone who was more emotionally open and attune to the slightest changes of moods, and someone who could keep up with him basically.

“Geez J, they say that I think loudly” Tim rumbles out as his naked self shimmies closer to Jethro before planting another gentle and reassuring kiss on his lover’s lips. “You are not a failure either. I like to think you were saving yourself for me and getting your heterosexuality out of your system before meeting me.”

Pushing their foreheads together Jethro allowed his wood smelling hands to gently massage Tim’s neck, and only because of the closeness of their bodies, and having Tim’s mouth so close to his ears could he hear the next part, “You aren’t robbing me of anything either Jethro. I wouldn’t be here if this was not what I wanted,” Tim knew how self conscious Jethro could be about this and it was something that the boys had many a fight about despite being together almost five years.

“I just worry that you’ll spend your golden years taking care of me when you could be out with someone younger, like DiNozzo” Gibbs said for once actually voicing his concerns, and if asked he would blame it on the closeness of their bodies and the sensuous way he could feel Tim’s breath coming in shirt spurts against his collarbone, and that suck things were the reason why he was being so open.

Taking a hold of Jethro’s face, so that the white skin was cradled in between his dexterous hands, Tim allowed his thumbs to pad across the area beneath his lover’s eyes before steeling a breath inwards and saying, “First of all my golden years are not being wasted by me taking care of you because you are a stubborn bastard who won’t let me anywhere near you when you are sick, and second of all you may not have noticed but I have a thing for silver haired, mature men which are two things that DiNozzo strikes out on.”

Capturing Gibbs’ lips in another kiss Tim used the momentary distraction to gently lead the pair back to the middle of the bed where Tim pins his lover down and has every intention in the world to show Jethro just how cherished he is to him and thank him for the stroking of his needs this morning when---“Daddy, papa! Can we have pancakes---”the voice of their daughter Lilly comes barreling closer to the master bedroom door, and if the loud voice wasn’t enough the crashing and opening of the door was an indication that the stroking of each other’s needs would need to wait.

“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” Lilly said while scrunching up her nose at the nakedness and abashed faces of her father’s.

Recovering first was Gibbs who said, “no baby girl we were just going to come and wake you up” while covering him and Tim up because he is not having the sex talk with his four year old daughter, at least not before getting some damn coffee in him. Yes, definitely too early for this sort of talk.

“Lilly billy why don’t you go downstairs and get the pancake batter out that I know you saw me make last night and the bacon, and I’ll be down in a minute to start it,” Tim said as he shifted the covers that was hastily thrown over him as he neared the edge of the bed.

Nodding, the precocious girl turned on her heels and was gone almost as fast as she came and both lovers slipped into their boxers and sleep pants before trudging downstairs to make sure Lilly didn’t have any ideas about starting their breakfast before they got there.

They need not have a repeat of last father’s day when Lilly got the idea of surprising her doting parents with breakfast in bed despite the fact that she could not reach any of the appliances—all they had gotten for that trouble was a friendly visit from the fire department, a lecture on fire safety and watching their kid (which Jethro did not enjoy in the slightest, cause who was the 20 something to tell him about raising a kid when he looked like he couldn’t even wipe his own damn ass) and a trip to Ducky for some minor stitches.

So yes, a repeat of that they did not need.

Gibbs started the coffee, seeing as how he complained that he was the only one who knew how dark and bitter he liked it, despite the fact that Tim made it pretty bitter. But Gibbs was in no mood to let that tidbit slip—after all the man was already wrapped around Tim’s finger as it was, no more reason to think he had the upper hand while his partner began pouring the batter into the heated pan on the stove.

“Lilly why don’t you go sit with papa?” Tim asked as his hips swayed lazily around the kitchen taking out the bacon, hash browns, and eggs for himself and Jethro.

Kissing her daddy, Lilly said, “okay!” before running over to the kitchen island that her papa was sitting at and sipping at his coffee and reading the front page of the local paper.

Burrowing into her papa’s leg Lilly used her expert climbing skills to snuggle her way into her father’s lap and pretending to scan the paper’s contents along with her father.

“Hey Lilly billy” Jethro said using the affectionate nickname that Tim had adopted for her when she was a baby while also stoking her bed head down a bit.

Beaming up at her papa with her thousand watt smile that would put any model’s smile to shame Lilly replied “morning papa. What are you doing today? Going to put any bad guys away?”

Leaning down and placing a chaste and tender kiss to her daughter’s forehead Gibbs said, “We’ll see if any bad guys need putting away. How about you? What are your plans?”

Shrugging Lilly screamed out “Daddy what we got planned today papa wants to know” and really the need to scream was not needed since Tim was a mere fifty feet away.

“Shh hunny” Tim said trying to remind their daughter that using their inside voice was better before moving on and saying, “I was thinking that we could get out some of the Christmas decorations seeing as how the tree has fallen pretty nicely, so I think it’d ready to be decorated. What do you say Cap?” Tim said while flipping a pancake.

Leaning against her papa’s chest Gibbs could feel the fast vibrations of his daughter’s head bobbing her head vigorously up and down in approval before saying “yes!” in a somewhat softer tone than before, and really the parents constitute even minute changes in decibel level a win these days.

“Good. Then we can decorate the tree when papa gets home,” Tim said laughing before setting Lilly’s breakfast down on a plate and going to work on his and Jethro’s meal.

Finishing with the front page of the paper Gibbs saw Tim getting ready to crack the eggs before calling out “Tim, I got it” and picking Lilly up and placing her on one of the stools before meandering into the kitchen and taking the egg from his partner’s hand.

“You sure Jethro?” Tim asked despite his eyes brightening up. Searching his partner’s eyes Gibbs could see the dark bags under his eyes and said, “yeah you go relax.”

Chastely kissing Jethro on the lips Tim went over to Lilly and watched her cutting her pancakes into tiny pieces before smothering them in ketchup and copious amounts of syrup Tim; smiles and realizes that this is exactly where he wants to be, and realizes that Lilly reminds him of his younger self.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

After breakfast Gibbs grabs a quick shower while Tim sends Lilly up to her room to change into her clothes for the day.

Sipping on coffee Tim watches Gibbs out of the corner of his eyes as he trudges downstairs with his gun, badge, and blazer jacket as always while picking his shoes up at the door, and sitting on the loveseat next to Tim to put his shoes on.

Stealthily, or at least Jethro would like to think he was, he takes a sidelong look at Tim. He takes in the dark bags under his eyes which never used to adorn the man on the persistent basis as they are now; the gaunt frame of his already pretty thin lover and Gibbs is once again reminded of the toll that this is taking on Tim.

“This” being staying at home and taking care of Lilly.

Gibbs feels a pang of sympathy for the younger man knowing that he is the one that deals with Lilly for the better part of most days except the weekend, and Tim is the one there for Lilly to make her lunch, dinner, and play with her.

The older man also remembers how vivacious children can be and wistfully remembers coming home from duty to the careening Kelly who was an endless ball of energy who could rev up the intensity in a matter of minutes.

“Hey Tim, you sure this arrangement is working out” Gibbs asks looking at his lover.

Seemingly caught off guard Tim tries to cover up his surprise by taking an extra long sip of coffee and eventually says, “Jethro it’s fine. We talked about this before we adopted Lilly. This was what was best for her.”

“Yea we did Tim. I get it, I do. You wanted someone to take care of Lilly and you were adamant that it be someone close to her,” Gibbs replied remembering the conversation that the pair had had months before the girl was allowed to come home with them, and how defensive the younger agent was to the idea that a nanny take care of the child or a daycare facility, and Gibbs did get it.

He knew that the man grew up without his father who was away most of the time, and he knew that the constant moving around jostled the sensitive man more than he would ever let on, and he understood that the man wanted to give their daughter a better and more stable home life, but maybe he should have fought harder to split the duties.

“So what’s the problem Jethro?” Tim asked getting a bit defensive seeing as how this was an argument that to the computer geek’s knowledge was one that had already been waged and finished. To Tim he didn’t understand why it was such a big deal that one of them quit their job in order to take care of Lilly, and seeing as how Jethro made more than he did, and was needed more at the MCRT, it was just natural that he be the one to take a leave of absence.

Putting his hands up in a placating manner trying to stave off a potential fight because again he hadn’t had enough coffee coursing through his system yet to deal with that sort of thing Gibbs calmly stated, “You just seem tired is all, maybe we need to talk about splitting the duties more.” Which in Gibbs’ mind was no trouble at all because he loved spending time with Lilly and if it meant that he took her to the park or cooked her meals in the morning so Tim could rest and relax well that would be like killing two birds with one stone, and he was nothing it not efficient.

Feeling bad for snapping at the older man who was only trying to help Tim looked at his coffee mug as though the mug held all the answers to earth shattering questions Tim mumbled “Really it’s fine Jethro, but if it would make you feel better you can take Lilly to her playgroup this weekend” before meeting his lover’s eyes.

“Sounds good Tim,” Gibbs said before standing up and patting his lover’s knee and stealing a quick kiss before calling for Lilly to come down and say goodbye.

“Be good for daddy okay baby girl,” Gibbs said squatting down and kissing his second chance at being a parent on the forehead.

Nodding Lilly said, “I will! Catch some bad guys papa” before throwing her bony hands around her papa’s neck and nuzzling in close before pulling away and planting a farewell kiss on her papa’s head.  
And with that Gibbs grabbed the keys to the Sedan and his cell phone, and with one last look at Lilly and Tim he was off. Once again leaving Tim behind to deal with rambunctious Lilly but the older agent did feel somewhat better that he had gotten Tim to agree to take it easy this weekend.

Maybe he’d even talk to Ducky at work today and get some quick tips from the doctor on how he could silently take some pressure off of Tim because Ducky was always good with that backhanded helping without really helping doctor hogwash.  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Hey Lilly bean want to come down to the basement and help daddy get the Christmas boxes” Tim asked as he placed his now finished coffee mug in the sink to be washed later and held a hand out for Lilly to take.

Taking daddy’s hand, Lilly practically skipped towards the downstairs door. She always loved Christmas because that meant Santa would be coming soon, and even though Santa already gave her the best present in the world—her two papa’s who saved her from her drunk daddy and mommy—he liked seeing the jolly man try and outdo himself each year.

She had been a very good girl this year, she even ate all of her vegetables at dinner without being asked and stopped pulling on Jett’s ears, so she was hoping that such restrain would be rewarded with the new Barbie playhouse.

But, despite the presents and Santa what she enjoyed the most was decorating the tree and putting up decorations all throughout the house. She just enjoyed all the warmth and good smells of the season and each year her grandpa would visit and she never had one of those before.  
So, yea the season brought her whole “family” together even her papa took time off work so she got to see him more often.

Don’t get her wrong she loved daddy cause he always snuck her extra treats throughout the day, gave her a bath, put band aid’s on her owwies, and read to her but sometimes she felt like he did so much for her that he never had time for himself.

She was worried that if she asked for too much or tired her daddy out that he would want to send her back to her drunken daddy or worse put her in a home, and she couldn’t have that—she finally found somewhere where she belonged and she didn’t want to give that up—so she tried to help daddy throughout the day or go to papa at night after he got home for things.

That’s what made her a good girl after all.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Okay Lilly why don’t you take up these wall decorations” Tim said handing the little girl some light things to carry upstairs leaving the heavier lifting of the bulbs, and breakable decals for himself.

Nodding Lilly began her assent upstairs with daddy marching right behind her with two of the myriad of festive boxes in his hands.

“Want me to carry some more?” Lilly asked excitedly after she put the pooh and Santa wall decorations on the couch.

“I got it hunny, why don’t you go through those wall decorations and decide which ones you want for your room” Tim replied before turning back to make another trip through the house to the cellar.

About three trips into the process of breaking out all the festive gear Tim was spent, seeing as how he had been up late recently since Lilly had just gotten over the flu, and Jethro had caught case after case and had rarely been home.

Seeing her daddy laboriously put down the next box of decorations and seeing the sweat roll off him in rivulets like she remembered sweat coming off her body when she was sick last week, and seeing as how she had already separated all the wall decorations into various piles for the different rooms, Lilly devised a plan.

While she knew she couldn’t help him bring up the boxes cause they looked heavy, and while she worked out by running around with Jett at the park, she knew her muscles weren’t developed enough for that, she did know that she could grab some water for her daddy for when he was done.

Daddies appreciated that sort of thing? Right?

She did when her papa had water or lemonade waiting for her after her dance lessons, and this seemed like a similar thing.

Steeling herself Lilly shimmied off of the couch and marched into the kitchen. First order of business was getting a cup out, and while her daddies both said to always come to them if she needed a glass seeing as how they were up high, she figured that she could manage this once! Why ruin the surprise?

Using her small nimble hands Lilly pushed one of the breakfast stools over to the counter and began her climb towards the padded center. Finally reaching the top, Lilly jumped onto the counter and stood on her tippy toes and grabbed out blindly towards one of the cabinets that held the glassware.  
Her hands found purchase on one of the doors, however the glee was short lived as she realized that she had to reach even further for one of the actual glasses.

But she had this; I mean she was a Gibbs-McGee after all!

She almost had a hold on one of the glasses when she lost her footing and for a sickening moment she felt herself falling and she was paralyzed. All she could do was scream “Daddyyyyy!!!!”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Looking down at the pile of boxes Tim was happy to see that there weren’t many left to be brought up, and as he was about to bend over and heft another one into his arms ,when he heard a sickening thud and the a scream that made his blood run cold.

Dropping the box where it was Tim booked it up the stairs taking them two at a time, and rushed into the empty living room; and for a sickening second he couldn’t comprehend where Lilly was.

That was until he heard the whimpers and crying and following the pained voice of his little girl—the same vivacious little girl that Tim promised to do no harm against, and the same little girl that he lived to make happy on a regular basis.

Steeling his shoulders and taking a few quick breaths Tim ran into the kitchen to see Lilly half sitting up against one of the cabinets with glass shards sprayed all around her prone form.

Lilly has one hand pushed against her head and the other was trying to grab purchase on the cabinet door to help push herself up more. Seeing this seemed to jumpstart Tim into action and he was over to his daughter in a heartbeat.

Grabbing Lilly’s left hand he helped her sit all the way up and suddenly having two hands freed meant that Lilly could use both to place both hands on her forehead and she proceeded to rock back in forth in apparent pain.

Tim, knowing that he needs more information before he can take action, tries to take Lilly’s hands gently in his to better assess the damage but when that does not work Tim in a calm soothing voice (which he has no clue how he’s maintaining at this point) says, “Lilly I need to take a look hunny so I can see how bad it is”

Rather than verbally respond Lilly continues ricking back and forth and Tim feels a few errant tears begin to leak out the sides of her eyes, but after a moment’s worth of more fighting Lilly’s muscles go slack in Tim’s, and the father is finally able to see the extent of the damage.

Looking at Lilly’s forehead he can see a large gash forming on the left side of the girl’s usually pristine face and despite not being very good at medical stuff he knows that this type of gash needs more than a few butterfly stitches and icepack.

After coming to that realization Tim feels sick. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen. This is not great father of the year material. However, Tim only caved into those initial thoughts momentarily because he knew that Lilly needed him to be strong not a quivering mess. Once this was dealt with then he could become a wobbly mess, but not now.

Getting up to grab his cell phone to call 911 Tim was stopped when he felt small fingers tug against his wrist.

“Where you going Daddy?” Lilly said in a somewhat scared tone.

“I just need to grab my cell phone so we can call for an ambulance so you can get you checked out” Tim said evenly.

At the mention of the hospital Lilly stiffened up and whined, “is that necessary daddy?”

Despite how emotional Tim feels at seeing blood seeping down Lilly’s face and all over the floor he remains calm enough to say, “Lilly that gash needs stitches baby and papa took the car,” but before leaving he drops a reassuring squeeze to Lilly’s shoulder.

Thankfully the call to 911 was short and moments later Tim is back at Lilly’s side. Going back to her daughter’s side Tim grabs a towel from the dish rack and places it over the growing amount of blood and squeezes in behind her to wait for the ambulance.

Seeing that the towel is getting saturated with blood Tim snags the first aid kit that he thankfully made sure was downstairs in cases of emergency, and another towel above their heads.  
Opening the kit Tim made a beeline for the gauze pads, and with somewhat shaky hands ripped the package open, and placed the gauze over the gash.

“Here hunny, can you hold this for daddy for a second?”

“Mhmm” Lilly whimpered out as she placed both her hands over the pad while Tim wadded up another towel, and when he was ready he gently placed the towel over the gauze pad and his hands over his daughter’s.

“So what happened hunny?” Tim asked trying to pass the time and get the image of a bleeding Lilly out of his head.

Burrowing deeper into her father’s chest Lilly said, “I was trying to get a glass from the cabinet so I could get you some water.”

Unconsciously Tim pulls Lilly closer to him and thinks about how Lilly will be okay. From his Weebelos days Tim knows that head wounds tend to bleed a lot and look somewhat worse than they are. So yes, Lilly will be okay after some stitches, a clean bandage, and some ointment.

She’ll be good as new and back home where she belongs soon enough. And Tim did hear the crash and was at the scene in no time, so while he was not total father of the year material in his mind, he was not a total failure either.

So, yes Tim will focus on those small victories for now.

“Does anything else hurt? Did you hurt anything else on your way down?” Tim asked making sure that the head wound was in fact that only injury sustained in the crash.

“No…I don’t think so. My head hurts really bad but I think that’s it…but I can’t really tell daddy!” Lilly says crying towards the end.

Rubbing one arm gently up and down Lilly’s right arm for comfort Tim said, “Shh, shhh, it’s okay. Head injuries can make you a little fuzzy and it looks like you took a mighty fall. You’re doing great.”

Momentarily Tim closed his eyes and mused about where the damn ambulance was, and as if sensing his prayers Tim heard the sirens coming closer to the house.

“Good afternoon,” the lady EMT says as she enters the kitchen.

Nodding Tim says, “this is Lilly.”

“Hi Lilly, my name is Sherry. Can you tell me what happened?” Sherry asked as she got out her pen out to fill out paperwork.

“I was trying to get a glass from the cupboard, even though my daddies tell me not to, I thought since I was a big girl I could reach them and get some water for my daddy.” Lilly replied.

Smiling at Lilly Sherry says, “you seem like a very big girl, and I don’t think your daddy will be too mad. I used to do the same thing and my daddy always forgave me.”

“Really!” Lilly asks.

Shaking her head in affirmation Sherry then asks, “okay, does anything else hurt besides your head? Your hands, arms, and neck feel okay?”

“Umm…I think so. I think it’s just my head” Lilly replies.

“That’s okay, can you wiggle your toes and fingers for me so I can check that off my list?” Sherry asked.

Tim blanched at the thought that Lilly could have been hurt worse and that her spine could have been hurt and here he was manhandling her across the kitchen.

But seeing Lilly move her extremities seemed to quell that momentary panic.

“That’s real good Lilly. Almost done and then we can get that gash looked at and cleaned. Do you feel nauseous or dizzy at all?”

Thinking for a moment Lilly stated, ‘I feel a little dizzy.”

“Okay you did great,” Sherry said as she capped her pen and shouted at her teammate for a c-Collar.  
Feeling Lilly tense against his frame Tim asked, “what’s the collar for?” even though he already knew the answer.

“The collar is just to make sure that the neck stays stabilized, but don’t worry it won’t cut off the airway or anything,” the male EMT said as he walked over with the collar.

“Lilly they’ll just put it on you for the ride over okay? You’ll be fine” Tim said trying to reassure his daughter.

“Okay daddy,” Lilly says somewhat resigned to her fate.

After that the process runs relatively smoothly with Sherry fastening the collar onto Lilly’s neck and her and her partner helping to maneuver Lilly onto the lowered gurney.

Tim watches as the EMT pair take Lilly’s vitals and begin to move her towards the door and only then does Lilly begin to protest.

“Daddy! Aren’t you coming with me?” Lilly yells in a somewhat distressed voice seeing as how she can no longer see her daddy in her line of vision.

“Where are you taking her?” Tim asks as he steps closer to the gurney.

“Bethesda but you can’t ride along, sorry” Sherry says.

Upon hearing that Lilly becomes crestfallen and starts sobbing, “Why not?” over and over again.

“It’s okay hunny daddy will be right behind the ambulance. I’ll even grab you a new set of pajamas and call papa. I promise Lilly,” Tim says and those words along with the kiss on the cheek seems to do the trick and within no time Lilly is being pushed towards the door and into the awaiting ambulance.

After the gurney left the house Tim took a moment to breathe and take a look around at the blood coating the counter, floor, and broken glass.

Throwing the towel on the floor Tim barrels upstairs to Lilly’s bedroom in search of those Bella pajamas that she has seemed infatuated with the past few days.

After finding them and showing that along with a pair of shoes in a carry all Tim rushes downstairs and calls for a cab.  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Within minutes Tim is in a cab speeding away towards Bethesda and the home is deserted.

Upon arrival at the hospital Tim marches up to the nurse’s station and inquires about Lilly’s status, but the frazzled, overworked and probably underpaid nurse merely shoved a clipboard into his face for him to fill out.

Wearily, Tim trudged over to an open seat and began filling out the pertinent medical paperwork which he has been accustomed to filling out over the months seeing as how he is normally the one who brings Lilly to her doctor’s appointments.

So, no less than ten minutes later Tim returns the paperwork to the nurse and one more time kindly inquires about the status of his little girl Lilly, but the nurse seems no more willingly to parse out details this go around as before and she merely replies with “the doctor will be out to speak with you as soon as your daughter is done being treated.”

At this point it would seem as though this nurse is only good for handing out clipboards and repeating similar phrases such as the one just uttered to him.

And while he normally is all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, well his world is sort of narrowed to Lilly and the image of her on the gurney right now, so he really has no time to worry about potentially misjudging this nurse’s apparent abilities.

So, instead of picking a fight and being thrown out of the hospital which wouldn’t let him see Lilly any faster, Tim trudges back to the seating area and decides that now is as good time as any to call Jethro.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Jethro, who normally wouldn’t pick up Tim’s calls throughout the day unless he called multiple times picked up the phone on the first ring today since the team was just catching up on paperwork.

“Tim what’s up” Gibbs said while perusing one of Tony’s finished files which will probably have to be returned for more work.

Expecting a jovial answer Gibbs perks up when he hears “I cannot get the blood off.”

“Tim are you hurt?” Gibbs asked perking up slightly in his seat at the response and looking across the bullpen he can see Tony and Ziva look up in concern as well.

“Not mine, Lilly’s” Tim replied in yet another cryptic response which was starting to scare Gibbs.

“Where are you?” Gibbs asked as he got his gun, badge, and keys out ready to flee as soon as he head Tim’s answer of “Bethesda.”

As he packed up his needed things Gibbs replied, “I’ll be there in 20 minutes Tim,” before disconnecting the call and walking towards the elevator.

“Everything okay Gibbs?” Ziva asked.

“Lilly’s hurt. Her and Tim are at Bethesda,” Gibbs said in his normal clipped tone which gave nothing away of his emotional duress he was under at the moment.

“Go boss, we’ll tell Vance. Tell McGoo we say hi,” Tony said taking charge as a good second in command would do, and Gibbs knew that the training was left over from when he had taken his vacation to Mexico.

Gibbs nodded before entering the elevator and beginning his journey to Bethesda.  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

While Gibbs had a 20 minute deadline his reckless driving gets him there in 15 and he is soon racing through the hospital hallways towards the waiting area. As he was about to ask the same unhelpful nurse that Tim dealt with, Gibbs scans the room and finds his partner and instead continues onwards.

Seeing Gibbs, Tim got up but before he could say anything Gibbs beat him to it “What happened Tim, where’s Lilly?”

Tim makes vague motions towards the double doors which lead to the examination rooms before saying “I don’t know. They wouldn’t let me ride along and when I got here they said she was being examined.”

“What happened?” Gibbs breathed out taking Tim by the arm and leading him back over to a set of chairs.

“I don’t know. I was bringing up boxes when I heard a crash. I got there as soon as I could Jethro,” Tim said looking into Gibbs’ blue orbs imploring him to believe him, and he must have found what he was looking for because moments later he started up again, “When I got upstairs Lilly was in the kitchen. She said she fell trying to get a glass out of the cupboard. She was bleeding pretty heavily when I got there so I used gauze to stem the flow, but the nurses won’t tell me anything.”

Squeezing his partner’s shoulder Gibbs said, “They probably don’t know anything yet babe.”

“I’m sorry Jethro,” Tim morosely explained.

“Hey, what do you have to be sorry about?” Gibbs asked.

“I should have paid closer attention,” Tim tried to explain.

Head slapping the man in front of him Gibbs said, “You didn’t do anything wrong Timmy. We have told her time and time again that she needed to get us if she wanted something from high up. Kids will be kids Tim.”

“It was just an accident Tim and it’s not your fault” Gibbs said before enveloping Tim in a hug and hunkering down to wait for news on Lilly.

Burrowing deeper into the embrace, happy that there was someone there for him at this moment, Tim asked “you sure Jethro?”

“Do I ever say things I don’t mean Tim?” Gibbs asked before placing a light kiss to Tim’s hair.

“No Jethro.”

“Then it’s settled,” Gibbs stated before resolutely staring at the double doors waiting for the doctors to come out so he could see Lilly, and so Tim could see for himself that he was right about this just being an accident.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Family of Lilly Gibbs-McGee?” a weary looking man in a white lab coat announced to the waiting area.

Tim, who had previously been pacing the length of the waiting room, much to the chagrin of Jethro and the others waiting in the room, was the first to rush over to the doctor but his life partner wasn’t far behind him.

Taking Tim’s hand in his after seeing how stressed he seemed to be seemed like the right thing for Gibbs to do, and upon seeing the man sag with relief against the touch and apply a gentle squeezing motion to his hand he knew that he’d made the right decision.

With interlocked hands both men turned to the doctor ready to face the ordeal head on. Only when Lilly was home would Tim worry about how woefully unhelpful he was and how much of an emotional wreck he was during the whole ordeal, but that was later. Now he needed to listen to the doctor, see Lilly, and get her home. Then, and only then, could be breakdown.

“Well Lilly sustained a minor concussion during her fall and the gash that Mr. McGee saw required about 14 stitches,” the doctor stated to the grim faced family looking back at him.

Releasing a measured breath Tim asked, “but she’s going to be okay, correct?” Tim asked wanting to make sure knowing how fickle concussions could be since he’d been on the receiving end of them many times because of bullies.

“Lilly will make a full recovery. She needs to rest because that is what is best for her, but other than that she is going to be fine. We checked her for internal injuries from the fall but all the scans came back negative, so all she is battling is the mild concussion.”

“Can we see her?” Gibbs asked once it seemed as though the doctor was through his surprisingly easy to understand medical spiel.

“Yes, I can take you to her in a minute,” the doctor replied before passing off a chart to a nurse.  
Walking through the emergency double doors, which had previously separated the family seemed to relieve a giant elephant from Tim’s body, and he felt as though he could breathe properly for the first time since he heard the crash from downstairs.

“Can we take Lilly home doctor, or does she need to stay here and be monitored?” Tim asked as they kept walking down the endless corridor of papered off examination tables and rooms.

Thinking for a moment the doctor said, “We normally like to monitor the patient for 24 hours after receiving the concussion, but we are rather overpopulated because of the holiday season, so as long as you can monitor Lilly for the next 24 hours that would be okay.”

Both men nodded before Jethro added, “We know a doctor who can come check on Lilly. Is there anything that we should look out for in case it gets worse,” knowing that Tim could probably do without a repeat performance of holding a bloody towel to their daughter’s head as he waited for the ambulance, and if Gibbs was being honest with himself that is a call he could do without receiving ever again too

“You should monitor the concussion. I recommend waking the tyke up every hour to monitor her concussion and to do that you just ask random questions; and sample questions will be on the checkout sheet. Basically make note of if it is taking her longer to answer any questions, check to see if Lilly displays any signs of confusion. Also, if she complains of blurred vision, headaches, nausea associated with multiple bouts of getting sick, and then I recommend you bring her back in so we can take a further look at her. However, it will be normal for her to feel headaches” the kindly doctor stated looking over at the parents making sure that he has not overloaded them with too much information. One looks a little dazed but looked to be retaining all information and the other looked stonesish..maybe he should work on his bedside manner a bit more? Maybe giving the information in chunks would have been better?

“What do you recommend we give her for the headaches,” Tim asked making sure he had all his bases covered so he didn’t need to come back here later on because of a repeat performance. It was something he could surely live without.

“You can give her Tylenol but no Ibprobhuen and make sure that she only takes the recommended doses,” the doctor replied stopping near the end of the examination hallway. “Lilly can be released as soon as the paperwork is completed.”

Smiling for the first time since the ordeal started Tim shook the doctor’s hand and said “thanks doctor” before turning and bringing the curtain back that separated him from his baby girl. One last layer of separation and it was now gone.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Pulling back the curtain Tim takes stock of Lilly and while she certainly looks better than she did bleeding her way through a towel on their kitchen floor, she still looks a little worse for the wear.

There was a large white bandage that sort of took up her whole left side of her face, and while other than that her face looks pristine and clean, one look at her clothes and Tim can still see that she is still wearing her jumper now soaked with blood. Definitely something they would not be taking with them.

But taking a look at Lilly, really taking a look at her, Tim releases another breath that he was unaware that he was holding. While the doctor had told him that his baby girl was safe he needed tangible proof of that. As a scientist he can never just take someone at their word, and while Lilly looks pale and a bit out of it, thank you concussion, she is alive, there, and breathing. And Tim will count that as a win at this point.

Hearing the rusting near the entrance of the room Lilly swiveled her head and her face split into a wide grin before yelling “Daddy! Papa!” and wincing at the sudden movement which undoubtedly made the stitches known to the young girl.

“Hey sweetie” Tim said as he made his way over to his baby girl and tried to get as close to her as the bed would possibly allow, “How are you?”

Shrugging as she always does before launching into how she really felt about something, and Tim loved that she was still here to do that, Lilly eventually said, “I’m a bit dizzy and sort of numb! I feel like papa did after he had his knee operation! Remember that papa?” Lilly asked looking past her daddy and seeing her papa walking closer to her.

“Well the good news is that you get to go home as soon as we get you changed and sign the papers,” Jethro said coming over and kissing Lilly on the part of her forehead that wasn’t obscured by a white bandage.

Lilly’s smile faltered a bit before whispering out “you still want to take me home with you?”

Briefly taken aback Tim recovered quickly and began weaving his hands through his daughter’s hair and saying, “of course we still want to take you home. Why would you doubt that?”

Glazed over eyes met chocolate brown ones before Lilly replied, “I heard you and papa talking this morning! I know that you’re tired daddy and you miss work….and that’s all because me of!” and the little girl broke into a wave of tears which broke both partner’s hearts.

“Lilly, Lilly, Lilly. Daddy loves you and would never want to give you away. We may have our long nights but we make it worth it don’t we?” Tim replied while letting the pads of his thumbs sweep over Lilly’s cheeks to dry the onslaught of tears.

Leaning into her daddy’s touch she said, “yea we do! Like when we go to the park, or watch television, or when you slip me extra cookies. But I just don’t want to be a burden, that was why I was trying to help earlier, but every time I try and help it makes it worse,” the girl said before dissolving into a fresh wave of tears.

“Daddy appreciates the gesture Lilly billy and you could never make anything worse. We will never, ever, get rid of you okay? We love you. There are times where we get mad at your actions, but we never get mad at you, okay?” Tim said while running his free hand in circles on Lilly’s back.  
“You’re sure?” Lilly asked tentatively.

“Never been more sure,” Gibbs cut in and coming over to hug the two most important people in his life now, hoping that his strong words and even stronger hands could convey just how sure he and Tim were, and convey just how alright they would be again.

Nodding against her father’s Lilly asked, “did you bring me my princess pajamas to change into?”  
Chuckling, Tim grabbed the momentarily forgotten duffel bag on the floor and pulled out the Bella pajamas that Lilly had been obsessed with as of late and the wide smile made the extra time at the house looking for them worth it.

“I’m gonna go sign the papers Tim, why don’t you help Lilly change?” Gibbs asked letting go of his family. The older agent felt on more solid ground now that he could delineate tasks. He felt as though he was more firmly in control of the situation which was a feeling he craved.

Tim’s only response was a resolute nod before going to work on helping to get Lilly out of the bloody clothes and into fresher ones.  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Lilly tried to help, she really did, but in the end it was easier for her to let her dad manhandle her in and out of the dirty clothes which were promptly discarded on the floor in the ‘we will not bring those home pile’ and all that was left were the socks and shoes which slid on without much of a fuss.  
Just as Tim was tying the last shoelace Gibbs came into the room with the release papers all signed and the instructions on how to monitor a concussion.

“Ready to blow this popsicle stand?” Tim asked while picking up Lilly who wasted no time allowing her hands to find purchase on her daddy’s neck before snuggling further into her very own walking human security blanket.

Nodding vigorously, until the concussion made itself known, Lilly blearily kissed her papa before shutting her eyes and falling asleep on Tim’s shoulder.

Tim walked slowly towards the hospital entrance careful not to jostle the sleeping Lilly too much and he was thankful that the walk to the car was blessedly short.

Gibbs climbed into the front seat while Tim buckled a fighting Lilly into her car seat seeing as how she did not take kindly to losing her human blanket, but when she reached her small hand outwards Tim caught it in between his larger ones and held on tightly as he buckled himself into the back of the sedan.

Meeting his partner’s eye through the driver’s mirror Tim let out a weak nod and smile signaling to Jethro that he was okay and that they could leave to go home now.

Home. That sounded good right about now.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

If anyone were around to see Gibbs actually obeying, and even going below the speed limit, they would have laughed and had the person committed on the spot but there is something to be said for obeying traffic laws when precious cargo was in the car. And Tim and Lilly counted as precious cargo; and if it took 20 extra minutes to get back home, a drive that the silver haired fox normally could have completed in 10 minutes, well he doubt that anyone was going to complain too much.

Flicking the car slowly into the driveway Gibbs was brought up short at seeing another black sedan sitting in the driveway.

“Tobias…” Gibbs said as he rounded the car to help Tim get out of the car with Lilly.

“Jethro..” Tobias said in an equally measured tone while shutting the sedan door and following the family up to the house entryway.

“Are you guys going to play your one word game now?” Lilly hazily said while opening her eyes and looking back at her papa and uncle.

“What game” both men said in unison.

“You know, the game where you answer each other in one word to irritate the other?” Lilly said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Looking at each other and glaring, both me burst out laughing which brought a smile to Lilly’s face.

“DiNutzzo called, figured I would come over and see how my favorite niece is holding up,” Tobias said as he entered the house.

“She’s okay Fornell” Tim stated before turning to Lilly and asking “couch or bed baby girl?”

Looking blearily up at her daddy she said “what are you going to be doing?”

A bit taken aback at the question, because it was one that he had not been thinking about, because all Tim had been thinking about was getting Lilly home and safe, he said “well I’ll probably clean up the kitchen and then maybe do some paperwork. So what’s it gonna be ladybug bed or couch?”

“Couch” Lilly says brokering no argument and Tim has to wonder whether such a decisive answer has anything to do with the fact that he was going to be in the kitchen, and well if it is he cannot stop the fluttering feeling that settles deep in his chest.

Tim brings Lilly over to the couch and settles her on a mountain of pillows that even royalty probably would have found a tad excessive before draping the duvet, which the family keeps over the couch for movie night, over Lilly and bending down and kissing her forehead.

“Love you daddy,” Lilly sleepily mumbled before snuggling deeper into the couch and duvet.

Looking fondly down at her daughter one more time Tim then straightened up and said, “I’ll go clean up the kitchen. You’ll both let me know if she needs something?” Tim asked

Seeing both men nod and knowing that Lilly was in capable hands Tim marched silently towards the kitchen careful to be quiet as to not wake Lilly, even though the little girl was softly snoring meaning that she was dead to the world.

Flicking on the lights to the kitchen Tim was pleasantly surprised at how small the carnage was. When he first heard Lilly’s screams he had feared the worst and the adrenaline of the moment hadn’t really allowed the man to fully survey the damage, so really he was expecting more blood. At least more smears of it, but he was glad that it was this way cause which adrenaline that powered him through the initial ordeal was wearing up…and fast.

Tim’s knuckle hard grasp on the mop seems to be the only thing holding him up at this point and he is worried that if he tried to move now that his legs wouldn’t cooperate because right now they feel like a wobbly mess of goo.

Taking a few deep breaths he dips the mop in water and begins the task of cleaning the blood off with the mop and just as he was surprised by how little blood there was to begin with; Tim is equally as surprised to find that it takes little effort to remove the red stains from the countertop and floor. He was expecting to have to put some elbow grease into this and scrub, and scrub, and scrub but once again his expectations were wrong.

In a matter of minutes the kitchen is looking as spotless as ever and looks the way it did when Tim was making pancakes this morning. That leaves getting rid of the bloody towel, gauze pads, and mop as the only remaining tasks. While the mop was not too bloody, the thought that the mop could spread blood particles throughout the house isn’t something that Tim whole heartedly endorses.

Checking on the coffee pot to start making another batchm Tim is startled when he feels a hand come to rest on his shoulder, and even more startled to see that it is Fornell there behind him.  
“Here let me kid,” Tobias says as he sees the adrenaline begin to wear off and the shaking begin to set in over Tim’s features.

Shakily passing over the coffee grounds Tim says, “better get it right or Gibbs will be pissed,” as way of a joke which to the man’s ears sort of feel flat.

Giving Tim a pointed look as if to say ‘I’ve been friends with him for eons I know how he likes his coffee,” before saying “Emily was 6 when she fell off the swing set in the backyard.”

Tim looked as if he was about to cut in but wisely clamped his mouth shut upon seeing Fornell’s expression.

“There were cuts all over her knee and she tried to jump off the set so she had a gash, probably one like Lilly does, and I was scared. So, it’s okay to be scared Tim.”

Looking at the far end of the kitchen, anything to avoid the knowing gaze of a father who Tim desperately did not want to cry in front of, Tim shakily said, “Are you sure, cause Lilly needs me to be strong.”

“Anyone who ain’t worrying or scared as a parent is doing something wrong Tim” Fornell said as he set the new grounds to percolate in the coffee pot. “Go be with your family Tim.”

Smiling Tim reached out his hand for Fornell to shake, and as was par for the course today was surprised when the older man pulled him in for a one armed hug, “you tell Jethro about this and I’ll deny it” Fornell barked eliciting a small laugh from Tim’s lips.

“Duly noted,” Tim remarked as he made his way over to the couch where Gibbs was standing guard.  
Smiling at Jethro and reaching down for a chaste kiss Gibbs said, “go to sleep Tim, I’ll wake Lilly up in half an hour for her check.”

As Tim slips behind Lilly and presses the little girl into his chest, it only seems natural that he burrows in further as Lilly snakes an arm around his neck, and Tim allows the exhaustion of the past day to catch up with him and slips his eyes shut after pressing a kiss into Lilly’s hair.

Gibbs, standing guard as always, murmurs “proud of you Tim, and I’ve got your sixes,” before snagging an old newspaper on the table and flipping it to the movie section and finding a movie that the family could watch soon to get over this whole mess.

So, while the day went a bit pear shaped, all’s well that ends well, in Gibbs’ mind.

Maybe tomorrow Tim will wake him with a morning blowjob?


End file.
